Free Autodesk flame training edition

[Tekano]

http://area.autodesk.com/products/features/flame

seems legit. Linux & mac only though. Always thought this 'suite' was more about being hardware based with client relationship / people skilled operators more important than actually doing something useful that no other software could do - but in real time.

[Rork]

Flame is slowly fading away into realms of the past. Taken over by faster, cheaper non-proprietary hardware/OS and compositing software...
At least that's what I see over here. Lots of Flame stations being replaced by Nuke workstations and ops. Never understood the high cost of it. Realtime? Nope, it's 'processing'.......

So... meh... ;-P

[Helli]

Nuke Studio is just the last nail in the coffin of flame.

Imho it is a dead Software, only the agencies/clients haven't realised yet.

But as soon as they do, why should anyone pay like 300% of the price of an nuke artist (not talking about the Software, only about what vfx houses charge).

[Tekano]

why should anyone pay like 300% of the price of an nuke artist (not talking about the Software, only about what vfx houses charge).

like I said its people interpersonal skills. and sweets. lots of sweets and a PS4 as well. thats what keeps the agencies and clients coming back.

[Hirazi Blue]

Personally I find the "hard-coded" expiration date of November 30th, 2015 slightly weird.
Make it a year from first install/activation or something like that...

[Bellsey]

Out of interest, anyone here actually used a Flame?

I don't profess to know a great deal about Flame, but it's not just a simple comping app like Nuke. As a 3D guy, I can muddle my way in something like Nuke, I couldn't do the same in Flame. Finishing products like Flame, Da Vinci, Avid, etc are a whole different skill. There's good reasons why these systems exist and people continue to use them.

[FXDude]

At first glance, it looks like a cross between Combustion and Toxic, (or I guess it's probably Combustion & Toxic looking like Flame :] )

But I'm sure similarities don't go much further than cosmetic ones.

But what is actually (hardware) accelerated. Is it solely IO?

Fast IO which is by no means a small thing particularly for very hirez floating point images..
but if say one would apply 100 blur nodes, would it go through the stack of blur nodes any faster than other solutions on similar systems?

Or maybe is it also workflow? (like Soft can be way faster than Maya ;] )

But what if say nuke was plugged on an equivalently fast raid disk array & system? would it reach similar playback/IO speed?

Nuke Studio is just the last nail in the coffin of flame.

If that is true (now offering a timeline based environment), the high-end finishing products being the first candidates for desktop subs only, might unfortunately count for yet another nail.

[Hirazi Blue]

Out of interest, anyone here actually used a Flame?

So what would be the current price for a full perpetual license?
The fact that I haven't been able to find one after an (admittedly) short search on the internet generally indicates it not to be cheap,
which might explain why it isn't all that popular among freelancers (and dare I say it: hobbyists)
;)
I always was under the impression that if you could afford it, you could easily hire someone who actually knew how to use it,
but that may be based on outdated information, I hasten to add.

[Helli]

Out of interest, anyone here actually used a Flame?

I don't profess to know a great deal about Flame, but it's not just a simple comping app like Nuke. As a 3D guy, I can muddle my way in something like Nuke, I couldn't do the same in Flame. Finishing products like Flame, Da Vinci, Avid, etc are a whole different skill. There's good reasons why these systems exist and people continue to use them.

In the company I am working at the moment they got some Flame seats.
But theres nothing which makes 3times the price of an nuke artist resonable.

So you could sell flame hours for almost the same as nuke hours but then you would need to rly have some good arguments to buy flame in the first place and hire those flame artists.

I guess you can count the newly sold flame seats / per year on 1 hand.
Just can't imagine that I'm wrong here ;)

[Bellsey]

Finishing systems like Flame, etc are high end 'turn key' systems, which means you not only get the software but the hardware as well. Often with these solutions, the hardware is tailored to the software, so yeah the cost is going to be higher than your normal software.

Thing is you might be comparing Flame to any other software and it's not that simple. It's like comparing the audio system in a full recording studio to something like Adobe Audition. On paper they both have great and similar capabilities, but at the same time, they couldn't be more different in how they're perhaps used.
People are finishing and grading commercials and whole movies in these systems, and there's alot of stuff being done out there in something like a Flame without going anywhere near a 3D dept.

[Mathaeus]

So what would be the current price for a full perpetual license?
The fact that I haven't been able to find one after an (admittedly) short search on the internet generally indicates it not to be cheap,
which might explain why it isn't all that popular among freelancers (and dare I say it: hobbyists)
;)

Actually you can get a lite version, or something like that, of davinci resolve, on pretty much the same place where you can get Fusion, now. But only software, or course, not that nice hardware. Davinci Resolve is not Flame, of course, but, imho it's also in category of "magic" things, comparable with 'please magnify it' machines from science fiction or crime investigation series. In my own theory, exactly that "magic", introduced in early times of promotion of computers, where art director could tell something and see something in ( close ) to real time, still keeps these things alive. Large piece of hardware in large, comfortable room, seems to be ingredient of magic formula. But how long....

[Tekano]

Bellsey, Ive not used one but sat next to a few operators over the years and seen them work or fed them 3d renders / mattes etc its very pen gesture driven and has a few neat tricks but IMO - not taking anything away from the incredible skill & talent of its operators its designed for super quick real time client fluff at the end only and you are wrong in your assumptions that nuke is a 'simple' comping app as it too grades and finishes many commercials and movies. much more I imagine than Flame does...

and this turnkey system you speak of.. this is how I bought Softimage 3D back in the day, coupled with Intergraph hardware and look what happened with that.

next week: Flame on a cloud!

[FXDude]

Thanks for the insight Bellsey, it seems to be really tailored to be the last step in a prod.

But I wish AD made a like consumer version of Flame. Basically the same, no hardware, which would make like another option.

And of course that wouldn't just rent it. ;)

Actually I wished Discreet was still around.

[luceric]

Times have changed. Flame can be bought outright without hardware, and you can add "assistant" editing or fx seats for less than the price of Nuke. There hasn't been proprietary hardware for years; it runs on a certified HP z820 workstation/Quadro configuration. Flame Assist and Flare also run on the Mac, as does Smoke.

3D guys have historically hated the Flame guy, so you'll never hear anything good about Flame on 3d forums ;) There were dark days during which The Flame Guy understood nothing of the premultipled alpha and full frames the CG guys was producing, but I think those days are long gone too ;)

[Helli]

Times have changed. Flame can be bought outright without hardware, and you can add "assistant" editing or fx seats for less than the price of Nuke. There hasn't been proprietary hardware for years; it runs on a certified HP z820 workstation/Quadro configuration. Flame Assist and Flare also run on the Mac, as does Smoke.

3D guys have historically hated the Flame guy, so you'll never hear anything good about Flame on 3d forums ;) There were dark days during which The Flame Guy understood nothing of the premultipled alpha and full frames the CG guys was producing, but I think those days are long gone too ;)

Your word in the flamers ears.
Some actually didn't change that much ;)

[FXDude]

There were dark days during which The Flame Guy understood nothing of the premultipled alpha and full frames the CG guys was producing

lol! :]


But by 'consumer' I mean something still much more reachable.

It may be less reserved to the client/artist lounges than before, but there still seems to be a great (if not major) part of the price that is just for the label.

Or there is still lots of 'kudos', like in the following (2010) quote reffering to inferno, but can be applicable to current comparative flame prices.

Flame and Inferno are identical apart from the price. As pointed out correctly, they sell to the Inferno to the Japanese because there is a percieved kudos in the product. You are essentially paying a premium for the splash screen.

(concerning that statement, there seemed to be more hardware qwerks coming with inferno)